Where to find gender identity
in teaching materials
‘Respectful’ Relationships
Respectful Relationships Education is promoted as a mechanism for preventing domestic violence.
BUT there is no evidence that Respectful Relationships Education reduces domestic violence and there is evidence that these types of programs are harmful.
Respectful Relationships: problems and harms
Respectful Relationships Education programs contain age-inappropriate content that does not align with the developmental stage of the intended students.
Complex topics are introduced at alarmingly early ages and case study materials and examples are often explicit and age-inappropriate. Children are still in the process of developing their understanding of identity, healthy relationships, and sexual boundaries.
Harms from premature exposure to age-inappropriate content include:
- Initiating and/or encouraging students’ exposure to ideas and content beyond their developmental readiness, leading to distorted perceptions and confusion.
- Desensitisation, blurring the lines between appropriate and inappropriate content.
- Children may become more accepting or tolerant of content that is not suitable for their age or developmental stage
- Normalizing age-inappropriate behaviors, causing children to become more accepting or tolerant of such behaviors.
- Confusion, anxiety, and the development of inappropriate attitudes and behaviors
- Disrupting children’s sense of safety, instilling fear, and increasing the likelihood of emotional trauma.
- Hindering a child’s ability to establish and maintain healthy boundaries and behaviors in various social contexts.
- Hindering a child’s ability to form healthy relationships and develop a balanced view on human sexuality.
RRE programs teach gender identity as a fact rather than as one belief system among others. Gender identity is deeply embedded throughout RRE programs.
Harms created by teaching gender identity as a fact rather than as a belief system include:
- Normalising and affirming body-hatred and rejection.
- Promoting an unhealthy mind/body dissociation that undermines mental health and encourages children to consider permanent alterations to their bodies.
- Encouraging students to constantly examine and assess their ‘gender’, which is contrary to the natural development of robust mental health.
- Encouraging adolescents who don’t fit regressive gender stereotypes or who experience distress about their developing bodies at puberty to seek a solution in puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and body-changing surgeries.
RRE programs skim past and minimise the biological basis of sex, typically adopting language such as “body parts,” “sex assigned at birth,” or “sex born with,” while emphasising gender identity.
Sex and gender are conflated, resulting in the presentation of sex as a social construct that can be changed, rather than a biological reality.
Harms caused by the conflation of sex and gender include:
- Undermining the foundational understanding necessary for teaching about relationships and sexuality.
- Resulting lack of clarity means students miss out on learning important facts about themselves, reproductive health, and sexual development.
- Misleading students about the objective reality of biological sex, which puts girls at risk by suppressing their awareness of a person’s biological sex. This denies them the right to set boundaries and undermines their ability to give or withhold consent.
- Disempowering children by teaching them that using clear language may cause offense. This may render them less confident to use the correct language to report abuse.
Respectful Relationships programs often downplay the primacy of the parental-child relationship.
Materials prioritize teachers and other adults as key people of trust in preference to parents who are portrayed as problematic or needing improvement. As a result, children may internalize the implicit message that adults outside the family are more reliable and trustworthy than their own parents.
Harms include:
- Distorted perceptions of family dynamics that can strain parent-child relationships and disrupt the crucial sense of trust and security that comes from a strong familial bond.
- Weakened emotional bonds, reduced open communication, and diminished trust, ultimately impacting the child’s sense of belonging and emotional well-being.
- Emotional distress and feelings of insecurity.
- Children may experience confusion, anxiety, or a sense of abandonment, which can adversely affect their emotional well-being and overall mental health.
- Missing out on the support and guidance that parents are uniquely equipped to provide, hindering overall development and resilience.
- Increased susceptibility to grooming tactics employed by individuals seeking to exploit a child’s trust. Diminished awareness of warning signs of potential abuse or exploitation, which can impede their ability to effectively protect themselves.
The ‘evidence-based’ MYTH of Respectful Relationships
RRE programs are promoted as “evidence-based”. They often reference extensive lists of citations purporting to evidence effectiveness in fostering long-term positive behavioural changes. Yet, an examination of this ‘evidence’ reveals the highly dubious nature of such claims. The “evidence-base” is deemed of low quality.
No evidence of behavioural change
There are no longitudinal studies demonstrating positive behavioural change resulting from RRE programs or similar violence prevention programs.
Limited impact on attitudes
Some programs have shown improvements in students’ knowledge and attitudes. This does not achieve shifts in behaviour.
Increased rates of violence
Studies have shown higher rates of perpetration and victimisation among program participants in violence prevention programs like RRE.
Poor quality research
Many “supporting” citations for RRE are news articles, opinion pieces and other non-peer reviewed sources
The push to implement Respectful Relationships across Australia
There is a significant (and well-funded) effort to implement specific RRE programs across the nation. The 2021 Respectful Relationships Education in Australia report commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Education makes for concerning reading. “The gap analysis revealed several priority focus areas for urgent curriculum development including the need to move beyond focusing on heterosexual, cisgender interactions between men and women and provide gender and sexuality transformative RRE“.
The new Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum explicitly recognises respectful relationships, consent processes and the influence of power and gender stereotypes on relationships, as essential knowledge, understanding and skills for students.
There are multiple ways for schools to meet this objective, however, most adopt materials with gender identity embedded throughout.
Respectful Relationships Education by State
Victoria is relevant – even if you don’t live there
Victoria pioneered Respectful Relationships. Many States have already adopted Victorian-developed material. Others are under pressure to do so.
Check our Victorian Respectful Relationships Overviews for a guide to the problems with these programs.